Manveer Singh of Maharajah Coffee
“When I roast coffee, I use a stethoscope to feel the vibrations, so I rely on most of my senses, body language, intuition and vibrations,” says Manveer Singh, 34, of his heightened perception.
Almost entirely deaf, the gentle-natured Singh started Maharajah Coffee in 2017 in London and Kenya and has been expanding the business locally over the past few years after relocating to Richmond with his wife.
“When people drink coffee, it’s filled with a lot of history,” says Singh, a London native. “Like coffee, we [humans] have history and culture.”
Singh’s own history is the center of his business, and he views roasting as an opportunity to honor his ancestors, whom he says were blacksmiths, traders and warriors, and to bridge the bond between the past and present.
“Maharajah means king, and the reason why I named it that is because my ancestors were royalty, and they were also merchants of the spice trade up until colonialism,” he says.
Singh adds that his lineage traces back to the Mughal and Sikh empires. Based in Punjab, Sikhs practiced the belief that people shouldn’t be judged by their race or religion and lived by the philosophy that equality and selfless service was essential.
That same altruistic nature lives on in Singh.
Born with an innate desire to connect with others that often comes from hardship, it was a trip around the world following an academic dismissal from Temple University and the discovery of a passion for the medicinal and meditative properties of coffee that led Singh to launch Maharajah Coffee.
1 of 3
2 of 3
3 of 3
“It was not good for me because of my hearing,” he says of school. “I decided to take a break and travel around the world. I always have to say to myself, ‘I need to keep going, no one else is going to do it for me, just yourself and your shadow.’ It’s been challenging, but it’s made me who I am.”
It was the pause he needed. From 2013 to 2016, he embarked on a solo journey following the route that Alexander the Great traveled from Eastern Turkey through Afghanistan, spending years in the Middle East and South America. A linguist, Singh can speak and lip-read eight languages.
Drawn to seeking out parts of the world that, as he puts it, “don’t disguise their identities,” Singh says he visited Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey and Syria. From helping to clear rubble and search for survivors after an earthquake in Nepal to patching up a person who was injured following an explosion, the experiences touched him to his core.
“I have seen people with their legs torn off, arms torn off,” Singh says. “I still think about these things. It’s really, really, sad, but that’s the way the world is, and it shouldn’t be like this. With my coffee, I’m trying to bring people together.”
While in Syria, he witnessed the potential of a warm cup of coffee. One of his most cherished memories was sipping coffee around the fire, the warm and convivial moment offering the citizens, and Singh, a chance to connect, slow down and escape the sounds of bombs in the distance.
Singh’s travels also took him to Minas Gerais, Brazil, and other parts of South America, where he discovered coffee farms and local growers.
“I didn’t realize I was going to do this until I traveled around the world,” he says.
Upon his return to the states in 2016, Singh re-enrolled at Temple, studying finance and international business. It was there that he would begin roasting coffee, and eventually gain the confidence to become his own boss. Fast forward, and now he’s roasting beans in his garage sourced from small lots across the world.
With my coffee, I’m trying to bring people together.
—Manveer Singh, Maharajah Coffee
“Everything started in the garage,” says Singh, who also operates Casablanca Property Group. “Apple started in the garage, Microsoft — 90% of companies start in the garage, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”
Singh works with small coffee farmers across the globe, many of whom he says are connected to his family or people that he met through his travels.
“This really helps farmers and builds a tight connection,” Singh says of these relationships. “I support them, and in turn they are getting better wages and fair trade.”
Offering several varieties, from a full-bodied Sumatra to a light roast from Brazil, Maharajah roasts about 15 to 20 pounds of coffee a week. Each bag of single-origin, small-batch beans features a pattern inspired by their origins.
“It’s amazing some of the small-source micro lots we’ve been able to get — we have three from Nicaragua, and they are all from micro lots, and they all taste distinctively different,” says Sarah Ehlert, CEO of Maharajah Coffee.
Currently sold at Good Foods Grocery and Urban Farmhouse, Maharajah Coffee also operates a mobile business, offering drip coffee, lattes, seasonal specialties and, soon, pour-overs — Singh’s preferred way to enjoy coffee. The truck parks at Great Big Greenhouse on Thursdays, the RVA Big Market at Bryant Park on Saturday and the South of the James Market on Sunday.
Singh is currently seeking a storefront in Westhampton, Carytown or Scott’s Addition, and he aims to hire workers with disabilities when he opens. The cafe will also have an area that proudly displays weapons, swords and armor of his ancestors.
“I just want people to be welcomed and just make them feel comfortable and at home,” Singh says. “I’m also trying to encourage people with disabilities to not lose hope. For me, I’ve learned that there is a hidden gift that you haven’t discovered.”
